


It's So Close But We're So Far Away

by Chash



Series: Better Ways to Be Alive [7]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gen, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 08:54:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20094622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chash/pseuds/Chash
Summary: Clarke wants to be excited that they're meeting another witch. It's a good thing, right? The more the merrier, especially someone who knows more about magic than they do.But she just can't shake the distrust.





	It's So Close But We're So Far Away

**Author's Note:**

> Gonna try to update this once a week on Saturdays! If I start writing faster, I'll speed up the timeline, but I'd rather have something I think I can stick to.

In theory, Clarke knew that there were other witches in the world. Sometimes, she thought about trying to find them, seeing if there was some password-protected forum or discretely named meetup group, but it never seemed pressing. She had her grandmother and she had Bellamy, and she didn't need anyone else. She especially didn't need to say the wrong thing to the wrong person and end up in jail or on some kind of list.

But no one came looking for her either, so she doesn't see why they'd come looking for Madi now. No one ever lured her to an office building for a weird test.

Bellamy must be thinking the same thing. "What kind of teacher?"

"I teach gifted children who aren't as fortunate as this young lady. Not everyone has someone in the family to help them." He smiles, a kind, inoffensive smile that has Clarke's hackles up for no real reason. "You know, I've introduced myself. I was hoping you might do the same."

It's one of those times she wishes their names were a little less weird. "Clarke," she says. "Bellamy. Madi."

"A pleasure to meet you all. I'm sorry to have dragged you out, it wasn't my intention."

"So what was your intention?" Bellamy asks.

Dante turns his attention to him with a calculating look Clarke doesn't like any more than any of his other looks. He's so _pleasant_, so unruffled, like he's in control of the situation. 

Which he is. That doesn't help.

"I look for signs of children with untrained gifts, and I found some here. When a child is being taught, like Madi here, I won't be able to find them, but if I set up the beacon, they'll still be able to sense it."

Something lodges in Clarke's throat, this strange, irrational feeling of failure, like she should have found these kids even though she doesn't have a clue how.

Bellamy's still frowning. "So you were fishing for another kid and reeled in Madi?"

"You make it sound so sinister."

"You lured us to an unmarked building," says Clarke. "If we weren't here, Madi would have come alone. And then you'd just take her off to teach her?"

"No," says Dante. "Of course not. I'm not running a Hogwarts here, that's impractical. I'm in contact with a number of other gifted people in different geographic areas. I myself am headquartered in Boston, but this is close enough to commute out for anyone who needs assistance out here."

The most annoying thing is that it makes sense. Clarke doesn't trust him, but this has to happen, right? If Gram hadn't been keeping track of Madi, if Clarke hadn't been able to track her down or talk to her, it would have been so easy for her to know nothing about her powers. Isn't that what happened to Bellamy? He turned out okay, but it wasn't like he couldn't have used a hand.

Of course, Bellamy is still bristling like he wants to fight this retirement-age guy, so he doesn't seem to think it's a good thing either.

At least there's that.

"There's another witch here?" Madi asks, soft. "One my age?"

Dante's expression softens as Clarke's stomach twists. On some level, she knew Madi didn't have any peers, not like Clarke had Bellamy, but she always saw herself and Bellamy as aberrations, coincidences. Most people didn't luck into a friend like that, and she didn't think Madi would either.

That doesn't mean she doesn't want one.

"Two," says Dante, smiling. "You live in a very magical area, young lady."

"How old are they?" Clarke asks. "The others?"

"One is thirteen," says Dante. "I'm still waiting on the other, but I believe they're older. You get a knack for reading the signs," he adds. "But I won't bore you with the details. I would have expected to find them sooner, but the two of you explain that. Unguided magic draws in more unguided magic, but the two of you would be taking care of that." His eyes flick to Bellamy. "The three of you?"

"I help out," he says, even. "I didn't even know guys could get powers."

"It varies by family line," says Dante. "What powers you have, what they do, when they awaken, how they're passed on." His eyes flick to Clarke's stomach, which she still isn't used to. Now that she's showing, it's been happening more and more--Dante definitely isn't the only one--but she doesn't like strangers knowing something so personal about her with just a glance. "I don't know what kind of records your family keeps but if you have information about the signs I'm sure I could help with--projections."

Clarke swallows her first response. He might be a fine guy, and he _does_ have information they want. If there are other witches around Madi's age in town, Clarke wants to meet them. Madi deserves allies like Clarke had with Bellamy.

And, honestly, it's not like Dante has done anything wrong yet. Clarke doesn't trust him, but it makes a lot more sense to be nice now and find out more than to alienate him when they don't even know if he's a bad guy.

"My grandmother was the one who taught me all the family lore," she says, with a smile. "So I have some idea what I'm looking for. But it's also all family legends, so anything you can tell us would be appreciated."

Bellamy doesn't relax, really, but Clarke can see him tamping down on his hostility, following her lead. "_We'll take whatever help we can get_ is basically our entire parenting philosophy."

"I understand. Let me give you my contact information. And I will be--of course I understand that you've been educating Madi on your own, and the three of you seem to be doing very well. But if she'd like to join in my class, she's more than welcome. Communal resources can be difficult to come by."

"We'd need more details," Clarke says. "But yeah, we might take you up on that." She wets her lips. "Is there somewhere we can find out more information generally? About what you do and just--everything, honestly. I've never really met anyone who knew about this stuff except my grandmother."

He hands her a card. "Send me an email, I'll be happy to answer all your questions."

_Dante Wallace_, the card says, and she can see it embossed with glyphs she knows, _learning_ and _assistance_. They'd just look like decoration, to anyone without magic, but he is the real deal. At least in terms of powers.

There's also an email and phone number, so that's probably real too. Unless he has fake cards set up and he's planning to disappear as soon as they leave, but she doesn't see why he would. And if that is his plan, there's not a lot they can do about it. She lets her magic trace over the card, looking for anything she might have missed, but there's nothing there, no tracers or hidden glyphs.

Still, she's going to copy the information and then burn it. Just to be safe.

"We'll be in touch," she says, giving Dante a bright smile. "Sorry for the--it's hard to trust strangers, especially under the circumstances."

"Of course. It's rare for me to find families, I'm as surprised as you are. But I look forward to getting to know you. All three of you," he adds, to Bellamy, and Bellamy's smile is tighter, but not too strained.

"You too."

"Nice to meet you," Madi echoes, and Clarke holds the door for her and Bellamy. She casts one last glance over her shoulder, and Dante just smiles, still pleasant, still serene.

He's still smiling when she closes the door.

*

"Is this really necessary?" Madi asks, frowning as Bellamy assesses all the birds who replied to his call.

"Necessary?" says Bellamy. "No. But better safe than sorry."

"If he's on the level, he doesn't have anything to hide," Clarke adds.

Madi huffs. "That's not true. Like, he doesn't have to be lying about this to want _privacy_. We don't have to spy on him."

"That's the good thing about animal spies," says Bellamy, crouching down to the birds he's apparently decided are the best ones. Clarke thinks they're sparrows. "They aren't going to tell me everything, just broad strokes."

"So what are we getting out of it?"

"Mostly peace of mind," says Clarke. "I know you want him to be on the level. I do too. But--"

"I know," she says, quick, but Clarke believes her. "I don't trust him either. It just feels weird to be spying on him."

Bellamy finishes his pow-wow with the birds and straightens. "All we're doing is making sure he really goes back to Boston and doesn't take any kids with him."

That one gets through to her. "Okay, yeah. I want to make sure he's not kidnapping anyone."

"Glad we're agreed," says Bellamy.

It's not until they're back in the car and driving that Madi says, "It would be cool if he's telling the truth, right?"

"I'm sure some of it's true," says Clarke. "I bet there really are some other witches around."

"Do you think you'd know?" Bellamy asks, curious. "If you saw them, could you feel the magic?"

"If they weren't warded, yeah. I could feel Madi's before she got her tattoo."

"What do you think happens when you can't talk to your magic?" Madi asks. "Like, what are the symptoms of being an untrained witch?"

"Probably your magic wouldn't tether right," says Bellamy. "You can't talk to it, so it would get frustrated and lash out."

"Bad luck," Clarke adds. "Breaking stuff. If you ran into another witch, they'd know, but if you didn't--"

"If this guy really is part of a group that goes around finding magical kids, maybe he runs into them first." Bellamy scowls at the road. "I don't like it."

"Which part?" asks Clarke.

"Maybe he's a great guy who just wants to help. But a covert operation that finds kids struggling with a big new thing who don't have family support? That could go really wrong really quickly. And I don't think he was really happy to see us. If he's so on the level, why does he hide his beacons from adults? Why doesn't he want to know if there's already a community? Who knows how many times he came through and found kids when your grandmother lived here?"

"So what do we do?" asks Madi. "If he's really a bad guy--"

"We keep talking to him," Clarke says. "See what he says. And then we deal with it."

"And we try to find out who the other kids are," Bellamy adds. "I don't want him to be their only resource."

"You're my only resource," Madi points out.

"Well, if everything goes well, maybe this guy can be another. I don't think it's good all you've got is us, but--"

"At least we know you guys are on the level," says Madi.

"As much as we can be. We're trying our best, who knows if this Dante guy is."

"Which is why we're sending animal spies," says Clarke, bright.

"And if everything looks good?"

"I get in touch with him and we go from there."

"I want to go to the classes," Madi says. "Even if we're not sure about him, it's a good idea, right? We want to know what he's teaching those other witches. In case it's bad."

Clarke smiles. "Or useful. I want you to be able to take the classes. I just want to be sure you're not going to disappear."

"He doesn't know about Bellamy's powers, right?"

"I don't think so," Bellamy says, making a face. "You two can't feel them, and he might have tricks we don't know, but--I think he was just wondering what I was doing there. Even if he knows I've got some powers, he doesn't know what."

"So a mouse can follow me to class. He probably won't notice."

She's not wrong, but Clarke's throat is still itching. It's not that she thinks Madi is unhappy or feels unloved, but she's been worrying about the baby, that maybe Madi doesn't really feel as comfortable with it as she says she is. That she's worrying she won't have a place in the new family, after all. It had felt like kind of anxiety time would fix, like all they had to do was have the baby and keep on being a family and everything would be fine.

And it still could happen, of course. Everything might be fine. But there was a comfort Clarke didn't realize in Madi not having other options, a comfort she hates. It's not as if she wants Madi to stay only from lack of anywhere else to go. She wants her to _want_ to stay.

"Yeah," she tells Madi, giving her a weak smile in the rear-view mirror. "We can figure something out."

*

"Is it bad that I'm worried he's going to steal the baby?" Bellamy asks that night in bed, and Clarke laughs.

"Probably, but I was worried he was going to steal Madi, so--"

"This is why we're married." He tugs her closer. "You think he wants to steal Madi?"

"More like--" She sighs. "I don't know. Tempt her? Convince her she'd be better off away from us. Offer her a better life than she has."

"She's not upset about the baby," he says, even though she didn't actually say it. Bellamy always knows. "You know she's not."

"I know. I'm still paranoid." 

"Me too."

"I didn't think about him wanting the baby. We don't even know if it's going to have powers. It might not be girl."

"_Gifts_," he scoffs. "That's what he called it, right? Gifted."

"I guess witch isn't the preferred nomenclature."

"You get to decide what to call yourself, it's what you are." She can hear him wet his lips. "The kid might get powers from me, even if it's a boy."

"You think he knows about you."

"Like I said, I don't think he knows exactly. And I doubt he's going to notice a couple birds following him. But he probably knows something about whatever I am, and if he does--"

"If he does, maybe he's on the level, and he can connect you with some other people with powers like yours. Maybe you don't have to be alone anymore."

"I'm not alone," he says, but it's a petulant, stubborn protest. They both know what she means, and all she has to do is wait for him to keep talking. "It would be nice to know more about where my powers come from, if there's more I could do. But I don't need that."

"I think Madi needs this," she says. "Did you see how she lit up when she heard there might be other witches around?"

"I get it. If I hadn't had you--" He sighs. "Secrets aren't fun if you don't have anyone to share them with, and Madi having us isn't the same as having peers."

"Sometimes I wonder if we should just tell her she can tell Jordan and Gaia."

"If this doesn't work out, maybe we can talk about it. Maybe even if it does work out. I always wondered if we really needed to keep it as quiet as we did. Like--I don't know. If we told Miller right now, he'd be cool. Monty and Raven too. If we'd told them back then--"

"We didn't need to."

"We didn't." His exhalation of breath ruffles her hair. "I don't like this. Anything about it."

"I don't either. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't give it a try. It could be good. And if it's not good, then we at least need to make sure it's not bad."

"I hope he's evil and we get to kick his ass."

Clarke snorts. "He's like seventy. I think if we kick his ass, we're automatically the bad guys."

"Metaphorically. I didn't like him."

"I know," she says, but she doesn't think she really gets it. Then again, Dante knew what she was, and he respected her. Bellamy was a mystery at best and an interloper at worst, and that's assuming any bad vibes he got were just about magic, and none of the other prejudices that could be affecting his opinion of Bellamy.

She kisses his chest, just below his collarbone. "I'll help you kick his ass, if it comes to that."

He kisses her hair, like the kisses are another conversation he needs to reply to. "My hero."

*

One of the sparrows shows up the next morning, pecking at the window while Bellamy works on updating his website. Madi has been restless all morning, so she bursts in before Bellamy's even gotten the full update. 

Clarke puts her arm around her. "This is really exciting, huh?"

"I think I just want to know," Madi admits, soft. "Just--so I can manage my expectations."

"Well," says Bellamy, "so far, so good. The sparrow says he met with a boy about your age, the boy left, and then Dante drove back to the city, like he told us he would."

"What about the boy?" asks Madi, and Bellamy smiles.

"No idea. I'd need more than two birds to follow everyone and report back."

"It's not like there's a lack of birds in the world. You can send as many as you want."

"Hey, I don't tell you what to do with your magic powers." He sobers, turns his attention to Clarke. "So, what's our next step?"

She worries her lip. "I want to get coffee with him. Just me."

As she expected, they both start protesting at once, not that she blames them. 

"I know, I know," she says. "You two don't like it."

"What's to like?" grumbles Bellamy. "You don't have to do this alone, why would you?"

"Because if all three of us go, even if we plan what we're going to say, we give more away than just one person. Madi's not a legal adult and we're trying to convince him that Bellamy isn't magical, so that leaves me. It makes sense."

"And what if he decides he's going to steal you?"

"I've got my magic. And you two don't have to be _far_. Just hang out at the game store while we get coffee. Besides, we'll do it in a public place. He's not going to kidnap me."

"Don't jinx it. Who knows what his magic can do?"

"She could bring Maximus," Madi suggests. "If they sit outside, he could sit with them. That's normal."

"Whose side are you on?" Bellamy asks.

"The smart one."

He sighs. "Okay, fine. I don't like it, but I get it."

"Seriously, why are you guys being so paranoid?" Madi asks. "I know he could be lying, but--there's a big difference between lying and kidnapping."

"If he's lying, he's up to something shady, and he probably doesn't want us getting in the way. He might not escalate," Bellamy adds. "But I didn't like him. And we might as well be careful."

"Better safe than sorry," Clarke agrees. "So, are we good with that? Or as good as we can be?"

"I assume you're bringing an emergency contact glyph too," says Bellamy.

"Yes."

"Fine, I can live with that."

"What do you want to find out from him?" Madi asks.

"I'm going to treat it kind of like I'm hiring a real tutor. I want to know who he is, what his qualifications are, what he's going to teach you. Stuff like that. I'm not interrogating him."

"Just asking him questions that would generally be useful," Bellamy supplies.

"He has to know this is weird, and he probably has something he usually does. Even if he doesn't have to deal with witch families, if he's really taking kids and teaching them, he must have some contact with the parents. If this is weird for him, it's a red flag. But--I'm preparing for the worst, but not expecting it. I'm going into this assuming he's acting in good faith."

"Hope for the best, plan for the worst," he agrees. "Works for me."

"Me too," says Madi, and Clarke smiles.

"Cool. I'll give him a call."

*

On the phone, Dante is just as friendly and accommodating and understanding as he was in person, so ready to talk things through and eager to get to know Clarke and Madi and, by extension, Bellamy. He agrees to drive out to Eden on Tuesday afternoon so they can get some coffee and chat, and Clarke spends the rest of her Sunday googling to see what she can find out about him.

Which, as it turns out, is a lot. For some reason, she'd been expecting him to have almost no online presence, but he's an art history professor at Tufts with a faculty website and articles in journals and a mixed score on Rate My Professor. He has pictures and connections, all of which look pretty legit, and that's encouraging, but it's _useful_, too. He isn't likely to just uproot his life; he has ties.

Bellamy isn't quite so optimistic. "He's way more of a real person than we are."

"Yeah, so he has way more to lose than we do."

"And a louder voice." He sighs. "It's--good. Don't get me wrong. But if the worst happens, who's going to believe us over this respected, tenured college professor?"

"Well, don't forget. My mom's kind of a big deal. And she loves Madi. If we get into a respectability fight, we're not at that much of a disadvantage."

"That's true. Just--" He sighs. "I'm worried this guy told us his real name, just like that. We're coming up with contingency plans and he doesn't even care."

"Which could mean he's got nothing to hide."

"Or nothing to be afraid of."

Clarke sighs. "Okay, you convinced me this isn't good news. Thanks. Does it matter? Does it change what we're doing? We need to find out who those other kids are and make sure he's not doing anything he shouldn't be. They've got new powers, they're overwhelmed, and here's a nice, respectable guy who says he's going to help them. We need to make sure he's for real, so--"

"No, sorry." He rubs his face. "I'm not trying to be a dick."

"And you're not being one. I'm just trying to figure out what you're worrying about so we can deal with it."

"Good question. Probably just--I have a really bad feeling about this, so I'm going to see the bad side of all the good news."

"I can deal with that. Just--do it to me and not Madi, okay? She's invested in this working out, you guys probably shouldn't talk about it or you're just going to upset each other."

"Yeah, probably." He sighs, long and resigned. "I'm going to feel like such an asshole when nothing goes wrong."

"You always feel like an asshole, what else is new?" But he sounds tired, a little defeated, and she wraps her arms around him. "What percentage of this do you think is baby stress?"

"Jesus, I hope not a lot. We've got a while before the baby comes, if it's that it's just going to get worse." He leans into her, eyes closed. "What if I'm just jealous?"

"Of what?"

"You two already have each other. If you get a whole community out of it--"

"He might know something about druids too. Or whatever you are."

"Even if he's not legit, you're probably going to learn something more. About witches or powers or--" 

"Yeah." She kisses his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Now that I said it, it feels kind of stupid. Like--it's not your fault. You always knew more about your powers than I did."

"That doesn't make it fair."

"It doesn't make it unfair either. And I still just don't like the guy."

"Turns out you have to do stuff you don't want to because it makes your kid happy. You should remember that from your sister."

"Just what I always wanted to get back." He smiles, stands and gives her a hand, pulling her up and kissing her. "Okay. I'm good. Let's go tell Max what's happening and then we'll head out."

Madi is taking the bus from school directly to the game store, and she'll hang out there with Bellamy while Clarke has coffee with Dante Wallace. Once that's done, she'll go meet them, they'll grab dinner somewhere with outdoor seating for Max, and then go home. Trying to keep Dante from finding out where they live feels paranoid and a little pointless, but Clarke still has a bad feeling too, and it's not like it's a difficult precaution to take. It's nice to go out to dinner sometimes.

Dante is already waiting for her when Clarke arrives, standing just inside the door. He looks smart and respectable, and Clarke does kind of get Bellamy's point. They're kind of antisocial weirdos, and if it was ever their word against Dante's for some reason, she's not sure she likes their odds. He screams _harmless old man_.

"Hi, I thought we could grab drinks and then sit outside? I brought the dog."

"Of course. Thank you for meeting with me."

"Isn't that my line? You came all the way out."

"I know what I do might seem--questionable," says Dante. "So I appreciate your giving me the chance to explain."

"I'm looking forward to hearing it."

That makes him smile, in on the joke, and some small tension in her stomach uncoils. At least he has a sense of humor. "I'm sure. What are you drinking? It's on me."

Clarke has her allowance of doctor-approved coffee in the morning, so she opts for lemonade. Dante pays, as promised, and follows her outside to Max once they have their drinks.

"Beautiful dog. What's his name?"

"Maximus. Bellamy is kind of a classics nerd."

Dante takes a careful sip of his own drink--black coffee--and then pulls out a card with a glyph written on it, one that looks similar but not identical to her own muffling glyph. He touches it and it glows for a second, activating, before he turns it over. 

"I thought it would be nice if we weren't minding our words quite so much. This makes passers by unable to pay attention to us."

"Nice trick."

"I'd be happy to share the glyph if you don't know it."

"Thanks."

He takes another sip of coffee. "Bellamy is your husband?"

"He is."

"Madi seems a little old to be your daughter."

"She's a relative, yeah."

"You're lucky you can share this part of your life with your family," he says. "Not everyone can."

"Bellamy and I have known each other for a long time. Before I knew I probably shouldn't trust people." It's her turn to consider him. "Are you married?"

"I was, but she passed away. She was gifted too, which is what I assume you're really asking."

"I'm just curious. Kids?"

"A son. No gift."

She nods. "I'm assuming mine won't be gifted either. It's pretty rare in my family."

"Who taught you?"

"My grandmother."

"She seems to have done a good job. And you're doing well with Madi. I have no interest in disrupting your lives. I had no idea you were here."

"How often does this happen? You stumbling into established witches."

"Not often. In fact, that's part of how I got started. I think the old traditions are dying out. The new generation isn't learning to use their gifts."

Clarke hides a smile in her drink. "Kids these days?"

"I don't think it's their fault. But they seem to spend less time with their extended families. Often it isn't a very close relative who has the gift, no one they've met, and they don't know how the gift moves through the bloodline."

Not everyone could be as on top of monitoring as Gram was; that makes some sense. "So, what exactly do you teach them?"

"Rudimentary things, like your grandmother taught you, I'm sure. Basic spells and glyphs, how to hide their gift, how to communicate with their magic. I don't know how much I could show Madi that she doesn't already know, but I suppose we won't know until we try."

"And you have two other students in the area?"

"I hope so. We're still working out the details."

"What to tell the parents?"

"And schedules."

"You said one of the others was--thirteen?"

"Yes, Charlotte. And Ethan is fifteen. How old is Madi?"

"Almost fifteen."

"I'd love to have her. You're welcome to join us too, if you'd like."

"I am?"

"Of course." He smiles. "I assume Madi would tell you everything I'm teaching her either way."

She doesn't see any reason to deny it. "How did you get started doing this?"

"I started seeing patterns to the magical disturbances I'd see in the city, and I could trace them back to children with gifts they couldn't control. Once I realized what the problem was, I thought it was worth fixing. I came up with the methodology to identify areas with untrained children, and as some of my students grew older, they wanted to help, and I taught them how. It's not terribly time consuming, but the work is important and I'm glad I can do it."

"So, how exactly do you find them?"

There's no way for her to know for sure if he's telling the truth, but his answers are clear and straightforward, like he could give them in his sleep, and they're consistent with what little Clarke knows of untrained magic. They make sense.

If he's lying, he's a good liar.

"You must have a pretty extensive witch network," she says, and then remembers, "I guess you don't call yourselves witches."

"Everyone has their own preferred terminology," he says. "I favor _gifted_. Many of our terms for magic users are gendered."

Clarke is sort of sympathetic, but she's also not particularly impressed by guys who can't handle being called witches. That's some fragile masculinity. "And everyone has the same kind of skillset?" she asks. "I know you said different families have different ages where the powers show up, but they do the same thing?"

"Yes and no. I can only teach the gifts I have, obviously. And those are the only ones I know how to track down. But I do know people with other kinds of magic."

It feels like there's something he's _not_ saying, as if Bellamy's name is floating between them, but it could just be her own paranoia. He doesn't have to be hiding anything. He doesn't have to suspect anything.

"Like what?" she asks.

He regards her, making up his mind about something. "You don't trust me."

"I don't know you. Both of those could change."

"Fair enough. Then, as a gesture of goodwill, I'll tell you something: I believe there's a family in this town with plant magic."

"Plant magic?"

"A gift for growing things, making them thrive. Passed on to the first born, as I recall, on the fifteenth birthday. Not very flashy, but they'll have a lovely garden. And a thematic last name, in this case. I don't think they've moved since I knew them."

Her breath sticks. Monty's house has always had an amazing garden, and he'd tried to have plants in the game store. It hadn't worked, until Clarke had cleared the festering magic out of the basement. Now, there are flowers and trees in there, brightening up the space.

How could Monty Green _not_ have a green thumb? It was an old joke.

"Very interesting. Thank you." She smiles. "I can tell you as much as I know about my family history."

"That would be appreciated."

They spend another twenty minutes talking, and Clarke would like to say that it makes her feel better about the whole thing. That Dante's good nature and affability are enough to convince her that he's on the level, that this really is the great news it should be. He told her about Monty, didn't he? He's answered all her questions and he's been so accommodating. 

Her magic can't relax either, though. Like Madi said, it's not that it thinks Dante is a threat, it's just that it thinks there's something about him. Something unfamiliar, something it wants to understand and can't.

It's not as if someone couldn't be doing this out of the goodness of their heart, but Clarke and her magic agree that it doesn't quite add up.

Still, she shakes his hand, smiles. "Thank you for meeting with me."

"The pleasure was mine. Do you think Madi will be joining my class?"

There it is, the billion-dollar question. Her impulse is still to say no, to say thanks, but no thanks. To not leave Madi alone with this friendly, kind old man.

Then again, she doesn't have to leave her alone with him, not yet. And what's the good of protecting Madi if she leaves two other witch kids to whatever fate she's afraid of?

"When's the first meeting?"

"Saturday, four o'clock. Officially, if any of the other parents ask, I'm doing a college-prep class."

"For a thirteen-year-old?"

"There is some--persuasion involved," he says, with the delicacy of a man selecting a euphemism from a long list of choices. "Just a small application of my gift to smooth over any difficult questions. The parents accept the explanation and everyone is happier."

It's the first thing he's said that she can really point to as _bad_, but she still gets it. If she'd had to tell some lies to get custody of Madi, she would have, and she can even imagine using magic to pave the way. But she can give herself the benefit of the doubt; Dante Wallace hasn't earned it.

"I think I'll come to the first meeting," she says. "And maybe keep coming, depending."

"Of course. We'd be happy to have you. Your husband is of course welcome as well, but I don't know if it would be very interesting to him."

"It might be more interesting to him," Clarke muses. "He knows about as much as I do about magic, but he doesn't have the background."

"Well, I'd be happy to have him."

"I bet other parents would want the same opportunity, if you asked."

"I ask the children," he says, which is one of those things that could be fair. "They generally don't want their parents to know about their powers. Did your parents know?"

"No," she admits. "But that decision feels pretty different when I'm the parent."

"I understand. But my concern is with my students, and this is what I've found works."

"Yeah," says Clarke. "Well, you'll definitely see me and Madi next week, and maybe Bellamy. And thanks for taking the time to talk to me. I feel a lot better."

"As I said, it was my pleasure. I'll send the address along, and I look forward to seeing you."

She manages a smile. "Yeah, you too."

*

"Jordan's a witch?" Madi asks.

"Not yet, I guess," says Clarke, smiling. "And not a witch. More like Bellamy with plants. That was your takeaway?"

"What else is there to take away? Everything else sounded like it went pretty okay. He's a teacher, he has students, we're going to the first class. Jordan having powers is new."

"And still not the same as me," Bellamy says. "If it hits at fifteen. I've been able to talk to animals for as long as I can remember." As if to demonstrate, one of the cats wanders over, and he picks her up, scratches her ears, and puts her back down, fluid as breathing. "So still not the same."

Madi rolls her eyes. "So maybe if you just told him what you could do, he'd know someone with similar powers."

"I can't believe you're so ready to trust him," Clarke says, and immediately regrets it. Madi's trust issues are like fight club: they don't talk about them.

"And I can't believe you're so against him," she shoots back. "I'm not saying he's a good guy, just so far, he hasn't done anything wrong, right? Why aren't we giving him the benefit of the doubt?"

"We are," Bellamy says. "If we weren't, we wouldn't be going to the first class."

"But you still think he's--what, exactly?"

Clarke and Bellamy exchange a look, but it doesn't really have answers. They think he's going to try to steal one of their kids away, this strange, adult paranoia that probably won't make sense to Madi.

"I think it's a parent thing," she admits. "It's hard to trust a guy who lies to parents about their kids. If we didn't know about magic, we wouldn't have known what was going on."

"But that's kind of what your grandmother did, right? She took you for the summer and didn't tell your parents why."

"And if I was my parents and I knew that, I would have ripped her a new one. I'm not saying it's fair, I'm saying it looks different from this side."

"It looks the same to me. I'm always on this side."

"So what do you want us to be doing that we're not?" Bellamy asks. "What's the problem with being careful?"

"What's if he's a nice guy and we scare him off? He could decide we're jerks and he doesn't want to let me do lessons anymore."

Something twinges in Clarke's gut. "We can be witches without him. We've been doing fine."

The blood drains from Madi's face, and she shakes her head. "I didn't mean it like--I know we don't need him or anything. But he's the one who knows all the other witches."

"Apparently you'll get Jordan soon," Bellamy points out.

"Maybe that's a good place to start," says Clarke. "Finding out if Monty knows him and what he thinks of him. And we're going to the class." She sighs, puts her arm around Madi. "If he cuts us off, I'm not going to give up on the other witches. We'll figure out a way to get in touch with them ourselves."

"But it's not creepy when we do it," she says, but she's smiling, teasing a little.

"If they think we're creepy, they don't have to talk to us. But you're pretty cool, I think you'll win them over."

"Probably."

She sounds dubious, and Bellamy frowns. "You are."

"It's not that. But--what if the other kids are stuck in the middle? Picking between us and him?"

"Then he's definitely a dick," Bellamy says. "Anyone who gives an ultimatum like that is an asshole."

"You're going to have to stop swearing when the baby comes," Madi teases. "That's going to be so hard for you."

"I'll live." His mouth tugs up in a smile. "He's a bad person. Only bad people give ultimatums like that."

"Much better." 

She seems satisfied with the outcome of the conversation, and Clarke is too, mostly. After all, what else are they going to do? She doesn't want to cut all contact with Dante any more than Madi does, and if they're not doing that, they should keep getting to know him.

"I just don't get why she's so--I don't get why she likes him," she admits to Bellamy, later. "He just seems so oily."

Bellamy sighs. "Yeah, I think that's what bothers me. He acts like he knows everything, and maybe he does, but--I don't know. If I was him, I'd be a lot more worried about how I came across as a creepy asshole. He doesn't even feel like a real person."

Clarke snaps her fingers. "That's exactly it. He's nice and he's polite and he's understanding, but--he doesn't feel real."

"Madi's probably used to that. Kids never think their teachers are real people. Or their allies, most of the time. He's probably just--that history teacher who's trying too hard to be cool."

"He sits backwards in his chair and misuses slang."

"Exactly. And maybe we're just not used to that anymore, or maybe--"

"Maybe he's creepy and we shouldn't trust him."

"Maybe that." She offers him a smile. "I guess we'll find out."

Bellamy just looks tired. Not that she can blame him. "Yeah. I guess we will."


End file.
